Misery
by EmoKitten3
Summary: It's been two solid months since Shinku Nikushimi's disappearance at Nora High, a popular boarding school. Ever since her disappearance, strange things have been happening at the school, and Alana Rose get a message, "Help me." , to help her discover how she mysteriously disappeared. *I'm working on a sequel, so please stay tuned! :3


Misery.

"Help me." the voice rippled through my head. A whisper, in need of help. Shinku? I was in the middle of History. We were meant to finish off our assignment on famous people during the 1800's.

"Alana! Stop day dreaming and keep your head down!" Ms Fern barked from across the room. I put my head down and pretended to focus on my work. She was the meanest History teacher EVER. I wished I had never been in this class. She always barked, and any student talking class got TWO HOURS detention after school. On a SUNDAY. That was the main reason people were late for History the next day, because she would then bombard them with textbook assignments and essays.

The clock ticked in the background. I glanced at my watch before pretending to write things down. Ms Fern just sat in her desk, constantly frowning. Her oval-rimmed glasses shone in the sunlight pouring in from the window next to us. She had short, brown puffy hair, and a face like an eagle. Her pointy nose and constant frown was what gave her the hell of an attitude we had to put up with. Plus, she always wore a brown jacket and a green dress, which matched her eagle-like expression. But we were used to it. Keep your head down, don't act smart and use manners. That's what I was told to get used to Ms Fern. I looked at the clock again. It was five to twelve. Five more minutes of hell before heaven. I felt saved. All I needed to do was wait.

"Find me." the whisper rang through my head again. I was sure this time. It was Shinku, no doubt. Shinku Nikushimi was a transfer student from Japan, and she was a kind girl, despite her situation. Bullying. It spread like wildfire when she first came. Poor Shinku had barely walked into our home room when the boys in our class had started teasing her. Calling her names, pushing, hitting. I wanted to help her, but if I did, then I would be dead meat. The boys were the strongest, and no-one stood up to them. They weren't bullies, but they made fun of Shinku.

Shinku's appearance was simple. She had straight, purple hair, and bangs up to her eyebrows and her eyes were a kind emerald green. Every day I would see her in the hallways, making her way to class. She was clumsy, and I would often help her.

"Alana Rose," I had said when she had asked my name.

"You're very kind. Thank you." she said when I had helped her clean up her papers for Math. I had always wanted to be her friend, as she was new, and was being bullied. But the boys loomed me like a giant skyscraper, and I would be dead if they found out. She had a quiet personality, since she never stood out and always spent every class in the back corner.

Despite being quiet when the boys were around, she was a very gentle, kind girl. When I had lost my hair clip in the hallways, she went outside during class and found it.

"Here. You dropped this," she had smiled at me, and handed me the clip.

"Wow, thanks." I said, slightly stunned. I smiled at her. She grinned back and headed back to class. I was really looking forward to being her friend, and I finally gathered up the courage to do so. But then... it happened. Speak of unfortunate timing. Every day during break, Shinku ate her food under a big shady tree next to the library. It had been her first week at the school, and I wanted to make her my friend. But when I went to the tree, the bench under it was empty. Shinku was gone.

Where is she?, I asked myself. She couldn't have gone far, I told myself, as she rarely left the tree during break. It was the only place she could hide and escape the boy's teasing. Without thinking, I went inside. You weren't meant to be inside during break, but this time, confidence was overflowing from me. I looked everywhere. The library. Home room. Even the teacher's office. Then, an idea hit me. The dorms. She was probably in her dorm, as they were one of the only places with locking doors. But something stopped me. It was forbidden to go to other student's dorms, unless in emergency. I thought about it. Was I going to break a rule to make a friend? She was in the same class as me though, I could wait. No! She could be so scared, away from her family and being teased with no-one to talk to.

I swallowed. I decided to. I opened the door to the dorms, and took the first staircase to my left. After that, I went to my right, finding dorm numbers and going up stairs. Soon I made it. Dorm 113. I knocked on the door once. There was no reply. I tried again. No reply. I opened the door, and it swung open. I nearly fainted at the sight. Shinku was dead. Yes, dead. Not moving, and covered in blood. There was blood everywhere. On her uniform, the walls and her bed. The dorms were small, only enough for a person. I knew she was dead, as she was a ghostly pale and wasn't moving. Her hair and uniform stained in dried blood. She was leaning on her side. I leaned over and moved her onto her back. I nearly fainted. There was a hole, near where her heart was. She had been stabbed, and left in her dorm to bleed to death. I wanted to scream, but nothing came out, so I ran out immediately, leaving the door wide open.

I ran outside and nearly crashed into the wall. Gasping for air, I slowly tried to regain my senses. Why... was she dead? No student could've done that for sure. Everyone outside just continued what they were doing. No one had noticed, except me. Just then, a scream rang through the air. It came from the dorms. A teacher patrolling the dorms must have seen... Shinku's body. Everyone stopped. They all stopped and stared, not at me, but the dorm building. Just then, a few teachers (including the principal) ran into the building. The doors swung shut. No one moved a muscle. People began to ask what was going on. No, no, this was not happening.

I grabbed my jet black hair and combed it with my fingers in order to calm down. My navy blue eyes jolted at everything red. I had just seen a student, dead at my feet. I was glad I didn't scream when I had seen her. So glad.

The bell shrieked to announce break. I was jolted out of my memories and gathered up my things. I shook my head and headed out of the History room and into the locker bay. It was crammed with people. It had been two-and-a-half months since Shinku's death. I was one of the few students who had showed up to her funeral. It was very painful, and I cried. The teachers and her family were there too, and I had told them Shinku was a good girl. A very good girl. She had done nothing wrong to have been killed. I had wanted to be her friend.

But that wasn't the end of it. Ever since her death, strange things had been happening around the school. Abnormal things had started to take place around the school. Some people had seen visions of Shinku in a torn, bloodied dress in mirrors. Some people had seen monsters, corpses chase after them. Others had seen glass crash in their eyes. Even once, a part of the cafeteria was covered in blood. Not hallucination blood, real, liquid blood. No one had dared to enter her dorm after that. Not even the teachers. In fact, some of them were so terrified that they had quit their job. And never came back. So did some of the students. Their parents complained to the school and left. Crows had also had started to come to the school. Cawing, and gleaming at people with their blood-red eyes and black had started to think that the school was cursed because of Shinku. That she was taking her revenge on the people that wronged her, but not many people believed her. After all, it sounded like something out of a clichè horror movie.

The locker bay had cleared. I went over to my tall, steel locker and clicked the lock open. After unloading my books in there, I slammed it firmly closed and locked it. Turning away on my heels, I went outside. There was a piercing scream, as people had gathered around. There was a boy, Jeremy Rodgers, crammed against the wall, his dark, black hair shielding his eyes from the crowd of heads above him.

"What's going on?"

"What wrong?"

"Is it the curse?"

People gathered around and I walked over curiously.

"I...I keep hearing screams... Inside my head... They... echo around my head...make them stop... please..." Jeremy croaked, before he passed out against the wall.

"What?"

"He said that he keeps hearing screams in his head."

"Weird."

"It must be the curse!"

"Someone take him to the infirmary!"

The crowd began to break up, and I left. I knew Jeremy, I did. He was in my class, and he was one of the normal people in our class. I knew him quite well, since we were in the same primary school, and he had a gentle, kind personality, like Shinku.

I remembered once the word got out a student had died at Nora High (our school), the school had trouble getting more students to enrol at the school. It was a boarding school, and students were sent back to their homes at the end of year. In between terms, they could also be sent home if their parents came to pick them up. My dorm number was 227, as there were five hundred students staying at Nora High. The tale of Shinku's death was posted in the newspaper, and Shinku's family were suffering greatly.

I had gone into the library, where Mr. Morris, our Japanese teacher was. We could learn either German, Japanese or French. I chose Japanese, and Mr. Morris was a very kind and caring teacher. When I had first told him a Japanese transfer student had arrived, he was very delighted. When I told him her name was Shinku Nikushimi, he shivered and grinned weakly.

"What's wrong?" I had asked him.

"Oh. N-Nothing."

"But you looked uneasy."

His rectangle-rimmed glasses reflected the sun outside. He leaned over to me and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes." Just as he was about to tell me, he glanced at his watch and nearly threw his papers in the air.

"I have a meeting! I'll have to tell you later, bye Alana!" he called, and dashed to the Teacher's Lounge.

The memories of Mr. Morris faded away. Right now, he was in holidays in Japan, Tokyo. He was going on a trip to see all the festivals and the cherry blossoms. I was still wondering why he had shivered at the sound of Shinku's name. I decided to investigate. I logged onto a desktop, and typed in my user name and password. My username? AlanRse93. I know, the school combined our name with two random numbers and name was part of our username for the school network. I opened up a new page and typed in an online translator. I found one: .

I opened it up, and selected the 'Translate _' bar to 'Translate Japanese.' Then I made the 'To _' to 'To English', so it was to translate Japanese to English. I grinned and typed 'Shinku Nikushimi (using the Japanese keyboard)' and pressed translate. A second later, two words came in the 'To English' section. My heart sank literally into my shoes. It had translated, crimson hatred. I swallowed nervously had shut down the computer.

As I slowly walked out of the library, a hand grabbed my shoulder. I flinched for a moment, but a familiar face filled my vision. It was Twinleaf Koromato, my friend. She had light, blue dyed hair up to her waist, and chestnut-brown eyes which sparkled in the sun.

"Hey! You seem down. You okay?" she asked me worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I smiled, and she did as well. She didn't know Shinku really well, as she was in a different class. But she did know how I had wanted to be her friend, and her death. She had also felt sorry for her death, and had also attended her funeral. That was why she was a good friend of mine. She was always there for me, no matter what.

Up ahead, we saw a girl approaching us. We both groaned, for it was Sophie Morbux, the princess. She was a snobbish, pink-haired girl who was obviously spoiled (you could tell by the amount of jewellery hanging from her neck, wrist and hands). We both loathed her, as many of the other students did as well. But, she (thankfully) was not in my class, or Twinleaf's, so that was a relief. What wasn't a relief was that every day, she would come and annoy the living hell out of us, going on and on about her latest wardrobe trends.

"Ugh, you two." she looked down on us like she had a bad smell under her nose. She introduced us to her phoney friends with a flick of her wrist, which jingled with all the wrist bands she was wearing, which were all a hot PINK. Her friends all groaned and winced at the sight of us, as Sophie expected.

"Let's just go." One of her friends whispered to Sophie as Sophie hesitated, paused, and left. We both looked at each other and sighed with relief. Her cursed teasing had not touched us today. For today. Tomorrow, she would be be back, meaner than before.

"That, was close." Twinleaf grinned. I high-fived her exhaustedly and grinned.

"Do you want to go shopping? I'm sure you'll stop worrying." Twinleaf knew I was worrying about Shinku. The voices, the monsters, nothing made sense, and I was stressing over it. Today was Saturday, and the weekends were my favourite part of school. On the weekends, we were allowed to go out of school for as long as we wanted to, as long as we were back at school before six. Also, the library was open, and so were the dorms. Everyone at Norai High loved the weekends, because people could forget about their stress and burdens, just for a bit.

"Yup." I nodded. I thought about going to Maisie again while we went shopping. Maisie was a librarian and a good friend of mine, and the library she worked at was just a few blocks away from the school. I often went to her to tell her about Shinku, the so called 'curse' and her voice, calling for help. She was quite old actually, her grey wispy hair tied back into a long ponytail, and her eyes, old with sight.

"Come on," Twinleaf grinned, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the school gates.

"Where do you want to go first?" she asked me.

"I was thinking about going to Maisie again," I said.

"You can meet me at the shopping centre, I'll be back," I called over my shoulder, as I ran to the Library.

The bell tinkled lightly when I pushed the door open, puffing and panting. As usual, Maisie came, grinning with pleasure.

"Hey, what seems to be the problem? You look quite stressed," Maisie asked, guiding me to one of the tables in the library.

"Have a seat." Maisie gestured, pointing to the chair. I nodded breathlessly and sat down, panting.

"Now," Maisie moved her chair forward and sat down. "What seems to be the problem?"

Everything just flooded out. The translation, Jeremy Rodgers, the curse, and her dorm. Maisie just sat silently and occasionally shook her head sadly.

"I just don't know what to do," I told her. Maisie looked troubled.

"Weird," she muttered, and stood up to get a book from the many bookshelves that lined the walls. A few minutes later, she came back with a think, dusted, purple book. She wiped the dust off, to reveal in gold lettering, 'Curses and Hallucinations for the Troubled' and opened it up. I sat up and read with her as she scanned the many pages.

"Curses from the Gods, Hallucinations from the Devil, Hallucinations from the Living... Here we go, Curses from the Dead." Maisie muttered. She flipped a few pages. There was Satan's Curse, The Cry of Blaknoth, Riddled Steel, The Curse of the Knitted, curse, curse, curse.

Finally she stopped at a page and handed me the book, white-faced.

"I think this is what you're looking for." she said shakily. I looked at the huge book in my hands. 'The Death Sword' was in big lettering up the top of the page. Silently, I read the page, about the origin, the first curse, and when I came to the middle of the page, my blood turned to ice.

'The Death Sword is when a murdered one takes his/her revenge on the place and people where he/she was murdered. This is caused by the separation of their soul and hatred, and the hatred trapping the murdered place in an endless dimension of pain, fear and suffering. The soul is trapped by the overpowering hatred while residents at the murdered place begin to see and hear abnormal activity. Residents missing, bloodied areas, animated corpses are just a few.' I shivered and put the book down, before reading it again a few minutes later.

'While the curse is in action, the close friends/family may hear the murdered one's soul, calling out to them for help, as they are the only way the curse can be lifted. They must go to-' the rest of the paragraph was faded away with age. Suddenly, it clicked. Everything made sense. Well, most of it.

"I'm the only one who can save Shinku." I told Twinleaf, as we were walking back to school, as the shopping trip had been cancelled. Shinku stared at me as if I was the new Miss Universe.

"You must be kidding me. You just went to a library and you think you can save her? She's dead. Long DEAD."

"Yeah, but look," I took the book out of my bag and started flipping through the pages. Twinleaf now looked like she had found out her mum was an alien. I showed her the page and pushed the book into her face.

"Read it." Twinleaf's face paled and handed me back the book.

"I need to go back to my dorm. I need to lie down." Twinleaf said shakily and quickened her pace.

"Hey, wait up!" I said and ran after her.

"Come on." I begged for the twentieth time outside Twinleaf's door.

"Please come outside." Twinleaf was about to shut the door, but I slipped my hand in the gap. Ouch.

"I told you, I'm scared now. I don't want to get attacked, so I'm locking myself in my dorm. You should too." Twinleaf said from behind the door. I groaned. Twinleaf was easily scared, so she often would lock herself in her dorm.

"We'll go together, it's safer that way. Please? I don't want to face Shinku myself."

"Shinku? That brat. I don't even know why you're even bothering to help her." Sophie snickered from behind me. Twinleaf heard, and burst out from behind the door. Even though she was scared easily, Sophie was the one person she hated the most.

Quickly, Twinleaf grabbed her pink bag in rage and ripped it up. Everything. There was nothing left, and she threw the stuff that was inside the bag over the banister, and we were five floors up. There was a crash as Sophie's things crashed onto the floor and Sophie now looked like the Devil. Twinleaf grinned smugly.

"OMIGOSH! Do you know what you've just done?!" Sophie screamed.

"Yep." Twinleaf grinned smugly.

"You've just ruined my most expensive cosmetics! I'M TELLING DADDY!" she humpfed and stomped her way downstairs, but on the way she trod on her heels and tripped down a flight of stairs.

Twinleaf, me and a few other people laughed loudly. Sophie stood up and stomped away crossly.

"That... was hilarious," I laughed, wiping my eyes.

"I'm coming with you." Twinleaf grinned and it was my turn to look at her, stunned.

"B-But, aren't you-"

"Scared? Not anymore." Sophie was one of the main people who had bullied Shinku, and everyday Shinku would hide under the big, shady tree, to escape being humiliated by Sophie.

"So, when are we going to save Shinku?" Twinleaf asked me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Tonight. Midnight." I said firmly.

"Where do we meet?"

"Dorm 113."

"But... that's-"

"Shinku's dorm. Yes."

Twinleaf's expression faltered for a minute, and she went back to her dorm.

"Don't be late. Bring a torch." I called into her dorm, and went back to my dorm.

Dinner was at six that night, and Twinleaf and I skipped it. We lied to the cook, saying we 'weren't hungry', and the cook, being a gullible young lady, nodded and said we were excused. We then grinned at each other and went to my dorm.

"Ok, so... Dorm 113, midnight and bring a torch, right?" Twinleaf asked me anxiously.

"Yes. Set your alarm. I'll see you tonight." Twinleaf grinned and ran back to her dorm. I felt more relieved, as Twinleaf was actually quite bold and strong-hearted. As we both went into our dorm, a figure, disguised in the shadows, tapped a button on their phone, stopping it recording. Someone had been listening in.

My clock beeped to announce midnight. I got up quietly and put on my black jumper. I had also told Twinleaf to wear black ,to blend in with the shadows. I grabbed my torch, and holding my breath, opened the door. There was total darkness, and I turned my torch on, listening for any signs of anything. I crept along the walls, with my torch in front of me. I silently went down a few flights of stairs, not daring to look behind me. Finally, I had made it. Dorm 113. I put my ear to the door and there was nothing. Silence. I saw a light behind me and suddenly whipped around, to see... Twinleaf. My pulse calmed down as she grinned.

"Don't worry," she whispered silently. "It's just me."

"Are you ready?" I asked. She nodded. Taking a deep gulp of breath, we slowly opened the door. There was her bloodied corpse, as still as ever.

Suddenly, her corpse stood up. It looked at us, with its bloody gaze and cackled. I knew Twinleaf was scared. I was too. It was even uglier than the last time I saw it. The skin was now a very pale white, and the eyes were black and hollowed, with dried blood dripping down its face.

"You can't help me." the corpse grinned, with bloodied teeth.

"You can't help anyone!" it screamed. Its back arched, and with a crackling sound, black, bat wings sprouted out of its back and it ran up to the banister and flew out the window, cackling crazily.

With a loud crash, the faint lights went out. Everyone was surrounded in complete darkness. Even the moon was gone.

Twinleaf and I turned on our torches and so did a few other people. There was a sudden loud thud as everything dropped. We were in mid air for a split second as the school was hovering. Then the school landed. We were flung painfully to the floor, and the corpse's crazy cackling was within ear shot. My chest hurt as I was sprawled on the floor. The wind was knocked from my lungs, and I couldn't breathe. It took me a few seconds to get my breath back, before I slowly sat against the banister.

Twinleaf slowly staggered to stand up and offered me her hand. We were still surrounded by darkness, yet my torch was still on, a few feet away from me. I crawled toward it and grabbed it. I then almost pulled Twinleaf to the ground in an attempt to stand up. I went with Twinleaf to the end of the banister and stared out of the large, gaping windows. There was now some faint source light, as we were in some sort of purple abyss with small stars shining through.

"Where are we?" Twinleaf gasped. I shook my head, staring at the sky outside.

"Not on Earth, that's what I'm sure," I replied. Twinleaf nodded in agreement.

"This is all your fault, Alana Rose!" I heard a high-pitched voice and rolled my eyes. I lazily spun to face Sophie, who was obviously raging.

"Because of you," she hissed, "my dress has been wrinkled, I lost my favourite foundation and lipstick! When you tell me where we are, I'm telling Daddy to sue you!" she hissed.

"I don't know where we are." I said sarcastically.

"Don't give me that. Where are we?" she said firmly.

I shrugged dumbly and Sophie literally blew her top. She clenched her fists against her hips and growled.

"Where are we?" she raised her voice. Twinleaf shrugged this time.

"OMIGOSH!" Sophie exploded. She started jumping up and down on the spot, screaming she wanted to know where she was.

"No wonder no-one likes her," Twinleaf whispered to me. I nodded in agreement. After Sophie had gotten over her temper tantrum, she folded her arms and scowled.

"Whatever." she rolled her eyes. "If you won't tell me, then I'll just have to come with you." I groaned in my head. Sophie following us was just the thing to slow us down, but I nodded. It was better than having to waste time arguing. Twinleaf groaned and we got our torch lights out. Sophie just frowned and followed closely behind me. We slowly made our way down the four flights of stairs before we went to the bottom floor.

"Now keep quiet," Twinleaf hissed, as there were teachers patrolling the hallways with bright flashlights. Everyone had already been told to stay in their dorms when we had landed, so if we were caught out of bed, we would be in deep trouble.

"Ugh, what ever." Sophie groaned silently.

"Just do it! Or do you not want to follow us?" Twinleaf hissed. Sophie silently rolled her eyes and kept her arms folded. We silently slithered out of the dorm and stopped in the locker bay to discuss where Shinku probably was.

"Where do you think Shinku is hiding?" Twinleaf whispered, as she knelt down and dimmed her torch.

"Well," Sophie interrupted. "We should go MY way and take the underground basement."

"No way, it might collapse or something. We have to stay above the surface." Twinleaf always liked to take charge and lead. But I did have to agree with Sophie, even though she was snobbish.

"We could go to the balcony, or try go outside." I suggested.

"Maybe." Twinleaf shrugged. "I don't know if there is, but there is a chance that those monsters could be wandering about the school." A cold shiver ran up my spine. I didn't fancy meeting a dead corpse. And I really didn't fancy what it could do to me. It would most likely try to kill me.

Twinleaf knelt down and wondered for a few minutes.

"Alright." she had decided. "We're going to split up."

"Split up?! What about the monsters?" I asked.

"You and Sophie will find Shinku, and I'll take care of the monsters." Twinleaf ordered, and took out a katana from the sleeve of her dress. Sophie and I gaped at her in surprise. I wondered how she could have hidden a sword inside the sleeve of her school uniform. She stood up, the katana glinting in the faint light.

"Do you two know where the basement is?"

"Yup." I nodded shakily. This was going to be a very rough night.

"Good, now quickly! The sooner you get to the basement, the better." Shinku called over her shoulder and ran off.

"Follow me." Sophie silently trailed behind me as we turned left at the library and went down another locker bay. The huge, steel lockers glared down at us, and I was scared that suddenly one of the metal giants would drop down and crush us.

"Ugh, you're going the wrong way. The basement is the other way!" Sophie said.

"I know, but its normally locked and the keys are in the teacher's office." I replied, glancing over my shoulder to make sure she was still there. She just scowled and rolled her eyes. Finally we came to the door marked 'TEACHER'S OFFICE, NO STUDENTS.'.

"Wait here." I instructed Sophie.

"Ugh, whatever." she muttered under her breath. But she stayed put, as I slowly pushed the door open.

To my relief, no one was in there. I got out my torch and made my way past the large table that sat snugly in the middle of the room, surrounded by armchairs. I came to a large board where spread sheets and timetables were pinned to it. I felt around the wall, lifting up sheets and found the keys on a hook behind the homework timetable. I slowly took it off and was about to head out when a light suddenly flashed. I quickly dove behind a bench as there were the sound of footsteps.

"Who's there?" It was the cranky Mr Tim. He was the caretaker, and was second in the cranky rank, apart form Ms. Fern, who ranked first. He shuffled over to the board, and looked closely to inspect if anything had been taken, but luckily he didn't notice the keys were missing. I just now hoped he wouldn't turn around and catch me with the keys, so I quietly crawled out of the door.

"So?" Sophie sniffed. I held up the keys to her and grinned.

"Good." she snatched the keys from my grasp and swiftly took my torch from my pocket. She then got up and crept her way to the basement.

"Hey, wait!" I called after her. She had the keys and the flashlight, the two things WE needed to get out of here, not just her. She just ignored me and kept creeping along the hallway.

"Hey!" I hissed. She just ignored me. A small flame of frustration ignited itself inside of me. I really wanted to just grab the flashlight off her.

She just kept stomping on.

With a small clack, the lock from the door slid off the doorknob.

"Let's go inside." Sophie whispered. I took the lead and turned on my torch. With Sophie behind me, we were instantly swallowed by the darkness, and the door closed behind us. I turned my torch on, yet it was still eerie. We walked in complete silence, with our footsteps being the only sound. The torch managed to pierce most of the darkness, but it was still very eerie. I shone my light on the concrete walls, where large boxes and bookshelves stood in silence. My heart rate began to speed up. I was getting nervous, and Sophie was too. There was a creak. I whipped around and waved my torch around. There was nothing. Nothing but more bookshelves and boxes. A sniffing sound came from behind me.

"Um..." Sophie whispered and tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw a figure sniffling. Crouched down, hands on the ground and kneeling. I noticed the purple hair immediately and said, "Shinku?"

It was Shinku. She turned around and looked at me with teared eyes. Then her eyes widened in horror.

"G-Get away! Get away!" she started shouting, backing away from us in horror. I was quite startled to see her this frightened.

"Is... it me?" Sophie asked, stepping forward. She shook her head quickly. Sophie sighed with relief, and turned around. She then starting gasping as if she was choking. I turned around and saw a second Shinku. A paler and bloodied version. Her head was bowed down to hide her eyes, and she was wearing tatted, blood-stained rags. Her feet were bare and only her hair was the same.

"W-What...?" I asked as I looked at the two. The original Shinku was staring in horror at her bloodied twin. Without warning, large, thorned vines shot out of the ground at a tremendous speed, and wrapped them selves around Sophie and Shinku. They were now trapped, their arms, legs, waist and neck being held by the thorns.

"H-Hey!" I shouted. "Let them go!" I tried to sound confident, but the other Shinku smiled. She knew my voice was shaking. I took another step, but more vines burst out of the ground and pointed at me. This was probably a threat to keep away.

"I... I just want to help you!" I shouted at the figure. "I only wanted to be friends." The figure's smile disappeared. She shook her head.

"You can't help me." My head froze. It was the same voice from before.

"You can't help anyone!" She cackled crazily, as she threw her head back and cackled crazily.

"That... that stupid old lady... can't help me!" she grinned.

"What old lady?" I asked, putting some confidence into my voice.

"The librarian. She was wrong. She lied!" I knew immediately she was taking about Maisie.

"How...how did you know?" I asked.

"The crows. They tell me what's going on." she grinned lopsidedly. No wonder.

"Then... you're the one... who's been making things happen in the school. This... is all your fault!" I shouted angrily.

She grinned, and I gulped. I shouldn't of said that.

"My fault?" she grinned. "You think... this... is my fault?" I looked at her nervously as her grin became a dangerous snarl.

"Ok, so it-" I tried to take it back, but she cut in.

"You think this is my doing?!" A vine shot from behind me as I whipped around. I looked at her, startled as she grinned, and the vine pierced my chest. I felt no pain, just everything brightened, and everything was white. I felt surrounded by light until it dimmed and the environment sank in. Was I dead? No, I was back in the locker bay, surrounded by people. Yet I looked around, as people moved about, holding books and talking. I saw a streak of purple and chased after it. It was Shinku, going into our home room. What was she doing here? Wasn't she dead? I was about to go in, when I came in with Twinleaf. I froze. I mean, my exact replica was walking with Twinleaf. Apparently, my twin was in deep conversation with Twinleaf, as they turned and went into class.

I followed them into home room, hoping someone would notice me, but no one did. Shinku sat in the back corner, red-faced and opened up her desk to get her books. The boys were up in the front row, laughing and sitting on desks.

"Hey, do you think I should something," my twin leaned over and whispered to Twinleaf. Then it clicked. This was a flashback, two-and-a-half months ago.

"Yeah." Twinleaf whispered back. My twin nodded and stood up, attracting everyone's attention.

"Uh..." My twin stuttered as her face turned a lovely flaming lobster red.

"L-Leave Shinku alone!" she called out, and stepped in front of Shinku.

"W-What...?" Shinku asked, startled. The boys immediately started laughing loudly, hooting and slamming desks.

My past-self's face became a tomato-red now as she apologised quietly to Shinku. Shinku waved her hand as she ran out of the classroom, red-faced with shame. Yes, my past self was a total jerk. She should have stood up to the boys in our class, but the past was the past. I just followed Shinku quietly into the bathroom. She ran in there, slammed the door shut in the last cubicle, locking herself in there. Just then, Sophie and her followers flooded in, laughing and jeering.

"Well, Shinku obviously doesn't know what's headed for her," Sophie laughed, as she went to one of the sinks and took out a hot pink lipstick.

"You got that right," one of her followers agreed as Sophie put on another layer of lipstick. I winced. Shinku was not making a sound in the cubicle, as Sophie was laughing and making jokes about her.

The girls crowded around Sophie, admiring her looks and makeup, while Shinku stayed silently in the cubicle. When they left, Shinku let out very noisy sobs from the cubicle, which saddened me. I tried to say something, but I remembered that I was a ghost, and this was the past, so I couldn't do anything. The bell announcing school was over shrilled across the hallways, as the students grew excited, and the classroom doors flooded with eager students to get away from class. Shinku just opened the door to the cubicle, red-eyed from crying. She went over to the sink and washed her eyes, then left. I followed her to the corner of the locker bay where she was. She was waiting for the huge locker rush to decrease, as there was a flock of people there, flinging open locker doors, dumping their things in and running out of the school gates.

After about fifteen-twenty minutes, the locker bay was deserted. Shinku was just unlocking her locker, when she heard the laugh of Sophie's group. Startled, she started carefully unloading her things before Sophie came round the corner.

"Well, what a coincidence," Sophie laughed at Shinku.

"I do believe you were... say, leaving?" she said in a posh tone.

Shinku tried her best to glare at her.

"Yes, I was." Shinku replied silently. "I must be going-"

"Do stay, I insist!" Sophie laughed, blocking her way.

"I really need to-" Shinku tried to make her way past Sophie, but her followers were like a wall, preventing her escape.

"Well, if you're late, then you'll-"

"Leave me alone." Shinku said firmly.

Sophie looked deeply offended. She gasped, trying to find her words.

"How... how dare you!" she spluttered. "How very dare you! You are SO going to pay!" Sophie growled. Even though she was the brattiest girl in the school, she was also one of the strongest. Without a word, she grabbed both of Shinku's arms and with a kick, threw her into her open locker. Before she could say anything, Sophie closed the door behind her and locked it, leaving Shinku locked in her locker. Sophie looked at her through the metal lines on the locker door and grinned.

"Well, looks like you'll have to miss your 'tea party' now! Ha!" Sophie laughed and walked away with her followers. Shinku began banging on the locker door, shouting for help.

As I silently watched Shinku bang on her locker door, I saw people occasionally stop to help her, but shake their heads after. Her locker was locked, and no-one bothered to get a teacher to unlock her door. Night soon fell, but Shinku didn't give up. She kept banging on the door, and by then there already was a small dent. One of the teachers on night patrol heard her banging, and took out the key that unlocked all the lockers. With a click, Shinku burst open, giving the teacher a fright.

"Oh my-! You scared me! Why were you in there? It's late, and you must be freezing! Follow me, we'll sort this out." It was Miss Clyde, one of the nicest English teachers. Worriedly, she led Shinku into the staff room, and I followed.

After Shinku was given some hot chocolate, she was told to go to bed. It was ten-thirty, and it was quite late. As she walked up several flights of stairs, she was about to head to her dorm when a figure approached her from behind.

"Good evening," the figure spoke in a deep, low tone. It was another teacher, Mr Calen.

"Where are you headed?" he asked her suspiciously.

"I-I'm going to my dorm." she said, startled.

"Really? Because I must speak to you." he said coldly.

"Come with me."

He lead her up another few flights of stairs until she reached his office. Creaking the door open, he lead her inside and gestured her to sit down on a small, plastic chair.

"I know what you've done." he started, his rectangle-rimmed glasses glinting in the faint moonlight. Shinku obviously looked confused.

"It's only been my first week here, I haven't-"

"You're lying. Don't you know what you've done?!" Mr Calen raised his voice slightly.

"What have I done?!" Shinku asked angrily.

"You... you killed my...brother... and you don't know?!"

"I never knew you had a brother! And how could I have killed him?!"

"This, is how." he said furiously and slapped some photos on the desk.

"These photos were taken the night he died. I never knew he would have been killed... by a high school student!" he growled. Shinku bent forward and looked at the photos.

In the photos, there was a purple-haired figure standing over a dead corpse, holding a knife. The figure was exactly like Shinku, but her head was tilted downward to hide her face. Shinku recoiled, shocked.

"T-That's... not me." she said white-faced.

"Really?" he looked over at her, his eyes glinting.

"Well then," he said, taking out a knife from his pocket.

"You...can die."

After he had killed Shinku (I had turned away, my eyes full of tears), he had carefully dragged her corpse into her dorm, where he had shut her in there.

The room began to brighten again, as I was brought back to where I originally was, with Shinku's bloodied twin.

"Welcome back. Enjoy your trip?" she said, hunched and grinning.

I looked at her, shocked. I actually now felt sorry for her. She had been accused of murdering Mr Calen's brother. I actually never knew he had a brother.

"Look," I said, making my way toward her.

"I know this is not your fault but-"

"W-What?" It was the other Shinku, who was wrapped in vines.

"Who are you?"

"Me?" I asked. She shook her head. Her bloodied twin began to cackle and cackle.

"Who am I? I...am your Hatred. I am the reason this curse still exists. I am your embarrassment, your agony and your anger. No one can help me. No one can ever help me!" her Hatred said in a very, distorted voice.

"Now, die!" Thorned vines began to burst out of the ground, trying to stab me. I had to dodge them, but I wasn't very fast, as a vine soon pierced my arm. My arm hurt so much, and it was bleeding like hell, and I bent over, cradling my arm.

"Now... you will all know what it felt like, to feel how I felt. Now you will all die!"

"But! ...I wanted to be your friend, you...were so kind..." I panted, my bloodied arm staining my shirt. "I had always wanted to talk to you, to be that person you could rely on... I know how you felt. I was bullied...as well. Every day, I would hide in the toilets, to escape their taunting. I know how you feel. We've had the same experiences. I wanted to talk to you all along."

"Well, why didn't you?" her Hatred grinned.

"Because, if I did, the boys...they would make fun of me..." I began to feel light-headed. I was losing blood. Fast. I stood up, and walked over to her Hatred, and hugged her. Her expression was shocked, as she tried to wriggle out of my grasp. But I hung on.

"I've been a real jerk, but I want to be your friend. Please forgive me." I whispered, before I let go and fell to the ground. The last thing I saw, was Shinku's Hatred twitching, as the vines around Shinku and Sophie wilted and disappeared. As they fell to the ground, Shinku's Hatred then exploded into thousands of crows, and they flew away. I didn't remember anything after that, because I must of fainted.

The sharp beeping of my alarm clock got me up as I sleepily slapped the snooze button. I immediately looked around. I was back in my dorm, and my arm was completely healed. What? I sat up on my bed, and noticed that a dove that had flown into my dorm. It looked at me with soft, azure eyes and dropped a note into my hand, before flying away. I looked at the note and sat back down on my bed. It was wrapped with a purple ribbon, and I loosened it and unfolded the note. It said:

'Thank you.' I grinned. Now, Shinku could finally rest in peace. I opened the window in my dorm. A warm wind was blowing, and I let the purple ribbon go. I knew soon, it would reach her grave, and it would be my letter of thanks.

End.


End file.
